Nfl Greats Huddle Up For Family

Youth Football Camp Prompted By Friend's Death

Wearing his Green Bay Packers shirt, Danny Deking ran to the orange cone, looked back, raised his hands and caught the football thrown by Jim Kelly, the former Buffalo Bills quarterback.

The impact knocked the 12-year-old from Sugar Grove to the ground. His teammates cheered and yelled, "We won!"

"That kid will remember that pass for the rest of his life," said Don Beebe, a Packers wide receiver, who was looking on. "Did you see him get carried off the field" like a hero?

Beebe and other organizers of the Jeff Still Camp of Dreams at Waubonsie Valley High School in Aurora could not have asked for a better start to the three-day camp, which opened Thursday.

The camp was formed by Beebe to raise college money for the children of a good friend. In February, 28-year-old Jeff Still of Yorkville was killed in a road accident in which the driver of the other car has been charged with drunken driving.

About 150 boys in the 6th to 12th grades joined the camp to get firsthand instruction from four National Football League greats: Beebe; Kelly; Reggie White, a defensive end for the Super Bowl XXXI champion Packers; and Desmond Howard, who was the most valuable player of that Super Bowl as a kickoff returner for the Packers and is now an Oakland Raider.

Participants learned blocking, catching, passing, running and kicking techniques from the football players and high school coaches. They also were instructed that they should follow their dreams.

"You're here to learn to be a better person and better football player," Kelly said to a group of boys huddled around him. "As long as you (have) heart and determination, anything is possible."

That is how Jeff Still lived, according to family and friends.

He was determined to play college football even after suffering a knee injury in a football game during his senior year at Kaneland High School in Maple Park, said his brother, Jim Still.

After the injury, the college football scholarship offers disappeared. But Southern Illinois University in Carbondale gave him a shot to try out for the team, Jim Still said.

Jeff Still took the opportunity and was doing well as a lineman. In the second week of practice, he twisted his knee in a scrimmage and his football career ended.

After college, Jeff Still taught social studies at Granger Middle School in Aurora and was an assistant football coach at Waubonsie Valley High.

"Football was my brother," Jim Still said. "He played it, he ate it, he lived it and he loved it."

At the time of the accident, Jeff Still and his wife of four years, June Still, lived in Yorkville with their two children, Jacob, 2, and 6-month-old Jarred.

Recently, June Still bought a house next door to Jim Still's in Oswego to get help from family in raising the children.

June Still said she keeps busy by taking care of the children and attending church. But she cannot get accustomed to the changes.

"It's still really hard," she said. "I try to keep really busy."

Accidents such as Jeff Still's should remind people that the country's struggle with drinking and driving is not over, said Katherine Prescott, national president for Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

Since the early 1980s, the number of deaths per year attributed to drunken driving accidents has declined. In 1995, 17,274 people died in car accidents involving alcohol and more than 1 million people were injured, according to MADD.

"There has been a reduction, but it hasn't been enough," Prescott said. "We are still talking about large numbers. I don't think anyone can be satisfied with seeing that many people dying."

Will Green, 14, hopes that participants at the football camp learn more than the skills of the game. He wants them to remember Jeff Still.

Will, a sophomore at Waubonsie Valley High, took Jeff Still's social studies class when he attended Granger. Jeff Still was also his football and track coach there.

"I knew him pretty well, and I would like to do anything to help out the family," Will said.

Since Jeff Still's death, the high school has formed Athletes Against Dangerous Decisions, an organization of high school athletes who acts as mentors to middle school students. Will is a member of the group and a volunteer at the camp.

"People who didn't know him can learn how important he was to people," Will said. "He always helped out and was always there for people. To some, he was a football coach. But to others, he was family."